Several nationwide surveys and studies over the past few years have shown that heart diseases have replaced communicable diseases as the biggest killer, both in urban and rural India.
The heart is the size of one’s fist, and it’s one of the strongest muscles in the body. It starts beating even before the birth of a baby, and by the age of 70, an average heart will have beat two and a half billion times. With every heartbeat, blood is pumped all over the body; it’s pushed from the left heart chambers, through the arteries, then finally the capillaries in every part of the body. However, numerous health problems occur when the heart isn’t able to perform its functions properly.
The medical term for heart disease is cardiovascular disease, which refers to any disease that may affect the cardiovascular system. There are various causes of these diseases, but hypertension is the most common one. Also, one has to factor in on various physiological and morphological changes that have an effect on the cardiovascular function, leading to greater chances of heart diseases, even in individuals deemed healthy by the doctor. Other types of heart problems involve the valves in the heart, or the fact that the heart is not able to pump enough blood, causing heart failure. Some heart diseases are genetic, while some are born with it.
Heart diseases are the main cause of death among men and women in all regions across the nation. The findings from the surveys and studies were quite provocative; in poorer states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the leading reasons behind the deaths of middle-aged men were heart diseases. In cities, the percentage of deaths occurring due to heart diseases was at 33%, while the percentage in rural areas was 23%. Including all the age groups of people, heart ailments were responsible for 19 per cent of all deaths.
There are various factors to keep in mind as a result of which one may suffer from heart ailments. High BP, diabetes and obesity are today considered among the highest triggers of heart diseases. Urban development has also played a role in the increased number of heart problems. Factors like high intake of fat, smoking, low intake of fresh foods and fruits were shown to be more common in less developed cities. Developed cities showed great amounts of physical inactivity.
Unlike deaths from communicable diseases or injuries having known causes, a large number of non- communicable diseases can have various causes and factors which give rise to them. For example, an individual’s heart attack can be triggered by high blood pressure in individuals, smoking habits, high cholesterol due to poor diets and even air pollution.
Today, India holds the title of being the world’s #1 country in coronary diseases. Despite this, there is little the government is doing in terms of setting up public health strategies to change the lifestyles of Indians, to curb the increasing rates of people suffering from heart problems. Unlike clinics for tuberculosis and programs like the Malaria Control Program, there is nothing of the sort in India. Gone are the days when heart diseases were considered to be an emerging problem – today it’s emerged as the biggest cause of deaths in India.
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